Another Author comment

Got a response from the author on my review of Geoffrey S. Edwards' novel, "Fire Bell in the Night." Pretty cool that they take the time to search for reviews (or pay someone to do it). Makes me want to search for other books by him. Guess that's the plan.

"The Dark River"

A novel by John Twelve Hawks. This is his second novel that I've read and even though I'm not into fantasy fiction (other than Harry Potter) it has been an interesting read. It was a little difficult to remember the first book but after a few pages it didn't really matter since everything was pretty much explained again. I know there will be another since the ending left me totally hanging along with two of the main characters. It is a dangerous world inspired by the modern technology that monitors our lives. Under constant surveillance by the "Vast Machine," a computer network run by a group known as the Brethren, society is mostly unaware of its own imprisonment. Gabriel and Michael Corrigan, brothers who were raised "off the Grid," have recently learned they are Travelers like their missing father. They are part of a centuries old line of prophets able to journey to different realms of consciousness and enlighten the world to resist being controlled. Michael joins the enemy and Gabriel takes on the responsibility. The Travelers are protected by Harlequins who remain emotionally detached from their Traveler but defend them to their death. It was a good read and something different to enjoy.

Making myself known in the real estate world today. Taking my office duty and listening to the sound of silence from the phones that in a perfect world would be ringing off the hook. So far I've had one computer generated call which I got to hang up on. I finished my book too early and now I have to find something to occupy my time for another hour and a half before I can close everything down and head for home. Maybe I can find an online game to play to keep me occupied.

A wonderful day in the neighborhood

Well the Christmas decorations have hit the store. All the little elves are busy putting up the phony trees and the inflatable yard decorations. I'm humming along to the tunes now but by next week I'll be prying the batteries out of the boxes to shut them up. I'm looking at one of those phony trees to buy for our house. Learned my lesson last year and unless I get a live tree that isn't more than two feet high then it's artificial for me. I'll put a bowl of pinesol under the tree and no one will be the wiser.

I was all alone the whole afternoon yesterday. The early shift girl went to a meeting and the backup went home sick. I was to have my lunch break between 2 and 3 and when my partner returned at 2:30, I mentioned that I was late taking my lunch. She was leaving at 3 so I was informed I would have to take a half hour. Ohhhhhhhhhhh! the Nazi management don't like that! They question each and every minute that you have different then what they assign you. To top it off, the scheduler had me leaving at 6 and the night girl coming in at 6:30. I had to stay an extra half hour. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh! more trouble in Nazi land! I'll be brought before the tribunal and tortured. Torture was handed out to me in droves when I had to try to deal with customers and no one was around to back up what I was doing and whether I was doing it right. Guess I should have paid more attention during my hour and forty five minute training session the other day. So what if I'm still missing 12 hours and 15 minutes. Sink or swim! So there I was, singing Christmas caroles to entertain the customers so that they wouldn't think I was totally inefficient. Finaly out of boredom they wandered away. It's terrible to stand there praying for no one to come up and bother you until the end of my shift. I can handle most things but they're still a few that get me panicked. Maybe I'll take up tap dancing and then I can really WOW them to cover my ignorance.

I'm working my way through a fantasy fiction book. I don't often read them but I read the first one a few years ago and enjoyed it and this is a sequel. Hopefully I'll finish by this weekend.

On the money

I zipped through Elizabeth Berg's "The Pull of the Moon" in a matter of hours. Now this is my favorite! She explains exactly what I feel yet so eloquently. The character, Nan, leaves home. Just packs a bag and gets in her car and heads west. Leaves her husband (she loves him dearly) and her home and heads on her adventure. Her first purchase is a journal. The book is what she writes in the journal and the letters she sends home to her husband. She's driving off the beaten track. I love that.....I hate interstates and my hubby thinks that's insane. I want to experience every curve in the road and what there is to see. "When you take the small roads you see the life that goes on there, and this makes your own life larger." The fact that Nan has long hair at 50 and even though at that age it looked sort of silly, but she always had long hair, and didn't feel herself without it. Or someone asking your age and you say 64 so you'll look young for your age. That's me! Nan stops in a trailer park and meets a woman there and they chat and have lunch. Totally different personalities but they find a common thread. One stop is at a farmhouse where an 86 year old woman is shelling peas and Nan asks if she can just sit on the porch step and listen to the peas drop in the bowl. Their conversation leads to the woman disclosing the beautiful poems her husband had written to her over the years but never showed her. She found them after he passed away. Or the conversations she used to have on that porch with all her friends as they shelled peas or husked corn. She was the last of them to still live in her own home. The rest were gone or in nursing homes. The last stop was a lemonade stand with a young girl manning the stand. She sold her lemonade for 50 cents. She also sold her poems for 50 cents. She was fresh out of poems but said she would go write her one if she would watch the stand for her. The poem had a bridge over a river full of monsters with a land of purple fields and yellow clouds. She became Empress Nana Exsanna Popana. With that she turned and headed home ready to face what was yet to come.

ER

The show; not me in one! I love that show! I've been a devoted fan for all time. This is the 15th and final season. So far this season, they've killed off one of our favorites. The left us hanging last season to see who was really in the ambulance that blew up and this season started with everyone surviving but injured. Poor Greg didn't survive his injuries. Last week we said goodbye to Abby. She was first a nurse; then became an intern; then a nurse again when money was tight; then a doctor again. Anyway, she got the hunky doctor to marry her and Dr. Luka left the show last year with just a drop by once in a while. To save her marriage she's off to a new hospital with Dr. "Hunk." The ending of the show was superb! She didn't tell many that she was leaving until the end of her shift and when she danced with Frank around the receiving area I had my hanky out. When she walked out the door and her friends were gathered the waterworks were heavier. Then she walks to her car and Dr. Luka gets out (rare and final appearance) and gives her a kiss and loads her in the car for their goodbye. (I saw Dr. Luka live and in person several years ago when I had a layover with my daughter, grandkids, and her mother-in-law in Chicago. Even better looking in person.) They are bringing back Carter who left quite a while ago. I don't know why, there won't be anyone but a few nurses there that remember him. The three that would have; just left! There's even talk of somehow incorporating Mark back into a show and he was killed off ages ago. You can be sure that every Thursday night I can be found on my sofa watching ER from 10:00 to 11:00. Whatever they have in store for the rest of this final season will probably cause me to cry. If only George Clooney would drop by!!!!!!!!!! That would make me smile! I don't think I ever want to get hooked on a show again that I'm so addicted to.

A little southern history

"Fire Bell in the Night" written by Geoffrey S. Edwards explores tension between North and South, black and white, that gripped Charleston, South Carolina in the summer of 1850. John Sharp is sent by the New York Tribune to cover the trial of Darcy Calhoun, a farmer accused of harboring a fugitive slave. As the trial begins, John quickly realizes that not everything is as it appears in the genteel city of Charleston. A series of mysterious fires in white establishments brings the state militia, a curfew for the black population, and rising tension at the courthouse. The story was gripping and the similarities between slavery in the south and the abuses in the industrial New York City slums are brought to light. Very good read and a definite page turner.

"The Secret Life of Bees"

I read this book sometime ago and they've just released it as a movie. The author was Sue Monk Kidd. I kidnapped my granddaughter and we went to see it this afternoon. Exceptional! I had forgotten enough from the book that I wasn't ready for everything that was happening so it made it even better. The actresses were superb. Young Dakota Fanning did a wonderful job as usual. She's the main character who is living in the south in 1964. Her mother is dead and she's surviving under a roof with a less than loving father. Civil rights is the topic everywhere. I can't say more or it would ruin it. This is a must see movie and bring your hankies! Great to have a girl's day with the granddaughter. Don't get many of those chances anymore.